Hey dolls! The indie list of favorites was the hardest to narrow down out of all them. There are so many creative ladies out there making wonderful polishes, it’s hard to choose just 10. So I didn’t; I chose 15. In order to not have so many different categories of favorites, I’m including all independent brands in this list (handmade and lab produced). Here are my favorites in alphabetical order and the original reviews are linked.

Cirque Coronation – The beauty that is Cirque Coronation! There are almost no words for this one. The shimmer glows and I love it!

Cult Nails Disciplined – Yet another polish with gorgeous shimmer! I love how bright and clean Disciplined looks on the nails.

Cult Nails Grunge – Grunge was officially my go to polish color for the fall! It has just the right amount of green undertones and the formula was amazing.

Cult Nails Masquerade - How could this polish not make the list? I put it on at the last minute knowing full well Masquerade would be one of my favorites. The shimmer is stunning and gives the polish so much depth!

Dandy Nails Chilled Down – Words can’t describe how much I love this color combination! Chilled Down is super unique to my stash. I like how it “looks” like a winter shade without being so literal. Soft glitters like this are always a win in my book.

Daring Digits Neon Sugar – I couldn’t resist adding this fun polish to my list. Pink and green are my sorority colors, so Neon Sugar was love at first sight.

ILNP Admire Me – Gorgeous blue shimmer with just a touch of holo – sounds good to me! Admire Me was my first ILNP polish and I can’t wait to try more.

Indigo Bananas Electric Unicorns – Indigo Bananas is my “new” indie brand of the year! The formula on each polish was amazing and she has a great eye for shimmer combinations. I must try them all! I wore Electric Unicorns twice in two weeks.

KBShimmer Rollin’ with the Chromies – For the uniqueness that is a holo duochrome, one of these KBShimmers had to make the list. Rollin’ with the Chromies is definitely an attention grabber and I like that.

KBShimmer Totally Tubular – Round glitter was a big hit this year with indie makers and I’m here for it! One of my favorites was Totally Tubular and it’s the only chunky glitter to make this list. The color combo just screams fun.

Mentality Lakeisha – Duh! There’s no way a polish named after me wouldn’t make this list. Lakeisha is girly, pink, and so me!

Mentality Nirvana – Mentality is one of the indies that churned out collection after collection this year. I like that this brand doesn’t focus on glitters. Nirvana was one of my favorites with its blinged out appeal.

Pretty & Polished Cuttlefish – Another big trend this year was thermal polish and Cuttlefish was one of my favorites. While these polishes aren’t the easiest to blog about (having to stick your hand in ice cold water multiple times), they are fun to wear!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Liberty – I wanted this polish for so long and I’m glad that I had an opportunity to try it by winning the RBL blogger contest. Liberty is absolutely stunning. There’s a lesson to be learned from this polish; never hesitate on purchasing a RBL you think you will love. It will sell out and leave you with hurt feelings.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Turn It Around – RBL shimmers never disappoint! Turn It Around was the crowd favorite from the Emoting Me collection and the picture below will tell you why.

How obvious is it that I love shimmers?!? Polishes with unique shimmer combinations will always catch my eye and they are by far my favorite finish. It’s not really a surprise that only one creme made this list since they aren’t usually the top finish for indie makers. I’ve learned this year that I don’t really mind holos, as long as it’s not a super duper blinding holo. What were your favorite indies this year? Did any of these make your list?

Love all of your choices!! I’m so glad I was able to get Turn It Around and Chilled Down. I’m loving Mentality Nirvana, it’s really pretty. And, of course, you know Coronation made my list too!
Look at you being all organized and alphabetical. I just threw mine together, lol.

http://www.refinedandpolished.com KayJay at Refined & Polished

Lol! I wasn’t even going to try to rank them, so alphabetical was as good as it could get. I don’t know how anyone could have Coronation and it not make their list. Thanks so much again for that one.

PolishedtoPrecision

These are all great pics and I have several of them! Coronation blows me away each time I look at it!!! I am happy you turned me into a ReBeL and my Lakeisha comes in the mail tomorrow!! Oh…Masquerade is ridiculous. I know there are a lot of people kicking themselves for sleeping on that mini collection!

http://www.refinedandpolished.com KayJay at Refined & Polished

Can’t wait to see Lakeisha on you! Felt really weird typing that. lol

PolishedtoPrecision

Hahaha…yeah…just a tad weird.

http://etchedinthesky.blogspot.com/ Amanda

Awesome post! I enjoyed learning your favorites for this year, we have very similar taste apparently
I love unique shimmer combinations as well. I added quite a few polishes to my wishlist. I am also sad to learn that Masquerade was limited edition

http://www.refinedandpolished.com KayJay at Refined & Polished

Thanks so much! I’ll always gravitate towards a good shimmer. Fingers crossed for a Masquerade return.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.